The property tribunal last week dumped the cost of removing Grenfell cladding on the residents at Cypress Place and Vallea Court in Manchester’s Green Quarter, which were built by Australian builder Lendlease.

And Vallea Court pays for the “waking watch” fire marshals.

In addition, the tribunal declined to issue a section 20c order, which means that ground rent speculator Pemberstone will be able to dump its legal costs on the leaseholders as well.

The total is thought to be around £3 million, or £10,000 for each flat.

All of which is the complete opposite of the government’s repeated calls for developers and freeholders to “do the decent thing” and to pay up for the cladding defects to be put right.

This has been echoed by Sajid Javid, when Communities Secretary, his successor James Brokenshire and the new housing minister Kit Malthouse.

The general ministerial view seems to be that housebuilders and freeholders coin so much money out of the leasehold system that they might as well pay up to put right the Grenfell cladding.

But it is not the job of the tribunal to guess what is the “decent thing”, but to apply the law which means interpreting the leases.

Inevitably, the leases were created and designed to make them as attractive as possible to “landlords” – that is, the entity that bought the site’s income streams such as ground rents, hidden insurance, energy and other commissions, management contracts etc.

So far, leaseholders have yet to persuade the tribunal that they should not pay to remove combustible Grenfell cladding from the sites where they were unlucky enough to purchase leasehold flats.

Indeed, the tribunal told leaseholders at Citiscape, in Croydon, and at the Fresh Building in Salford that they would be liable.

Curiously, another case is heading for the tribunal where Slough Council is seeking a ruling on liability at Nova House: it claims this is for the fire marshal cost only.

In an unexplained arrangement, Slough bought the freehold off ground rent speculator Robert Steinhouse last year for £1 – officially a “nominal sum”.

Susan Bright, professor of land law at Oxford University, analysed the legal options for leaseholders living in sites with Grenfell cladding at last month’s LKP-organised parliamentary meeting. It was attended by Kit Malthouse and his Labour opposite Sarah Jones.

The Manchester Green Quarter decision released on Thursday 26 July 2018, like the earlier Citiscape decision, finds the leaseholders liable to pay for the cost of replacement cladding under the terms of their leases.

Pemberstone instructed JB Leitch, the Liverpool-based debt collectors, in the case, who are also being employed by Slough Council against the leaseholders at Nova House.

The owners of flats in two Manchester apartment blocks built with flammable cladding will have to pay an estimated £3m to have their homes made fire-safe, following a ruling by a tribunal. Vallea Court and Cypress Place in the city’s Green Quarter failed fire safety checks last July and were found to have cladding similar to that on Grenfell Tower.

A property giant is dragging hundreds of city centre residents through the courts to force £10,000 each out of them for the removal of dangerous Grenfell-style cladding. One year on from the tower block tragedy, more than 300 leaseholders at Vallea Court and Cypress Place in the Green Quarter, Manchester, have been arguing their case at a tribunal.

Leaseholders in two high-rise blocks with dangerous cladding must pay more than £10,000 each for its removal, a tribunal has ruled. Freeholder Pemberstone had argued it should not fund the work at Cypress Place and Vallea Court in Manchester.

Flat owners have been left devastated after a tribunal ruled they must pay £10,000 each to replace Grenfell-style cladding on their homes – AND legal costs. A year after the horrific tragedy, property investor Pemberstone took more than 300 leaseholders at Vallea Court and Cypress Place in the Green Quarter to a tribunal over their refusal to foot the £3m bill.

As leaseholders are asked to stump up costs, is it time we turned the sprinklers on the property barons? By Danny Moran. The news that residents at two Green Quarter tower blocks are being asked to pay for their buildings’ cladding to be replaced is merely the latest spectacle to be seen at the ideal homes atrocity exhibition currently touring the nation.

Contact LKP

The leasehold game is weighted against ordinary home-owning leaseholders, who aren’t professional players. LKP was set up to redress the balance, to help you win your disputes or at least avoid disasters.

If you have a leasehold problem, you can email sok@leaseholdknowledge or take a chance on calling 07808 328 230.

Chris, Just seen a write up for an old Cowboy Film. Is was about a Crooked Sheriff a Paid off Crooked Judge and a Missing Crooked Landowner.

It reminded me of the recent Leasehold events in FTT and the Determinations made at the Tribunals.

Surely now there must be a Select Committee/Judicial Enquiry, into the workings of Leasehold to include all those involved being:-*Freeholder-Landlord-Managing Agents- Professional Bodies- Legal People-Construction Companies-Estate Agents.

Why is it that these corrupt organisations; LEASE and the FTT fail to apply the law when interpreting the lease when the lease leans in favour of the leaseholder, i.e., when there is a clear reading that the Service Charge accounts should be audited and the total maintenance expenditure certified and that the certificate should be served on the Lessee within six months and that that is a provision of the lessee paying.

Why is LKP also not looking at the failings of RICS, ARMA and sister to RICS, Ombudsman Services Property (soon to be gone thankfully) in their continued failings to protect the leaseholder and ensure Managing Agents are subjected to a degree of self regulation.

My 15 month investigation by RICS ended in no disciplinary action being taken against my MA and the following comment “Thank you for contacting RICS Regulation and assisting us in enhancing the risk profiling of our Members and Firms.”

“Thank you for contacting RICS Regulation and assisting us in enhancing the risk profiling of our Members and Firms.” – this is called rubbing salt into the wounds.

There is nothing worse than entering into a legal process with rightful conviction, then spending an enormous amount of time conforming with the required (senseless) procedures, and finding that your take on right and wrong is out of kilter with our learned friends take on right and wrong.

“Can anybody explain?” There is always a way for those who have been given the power to make judgements to make those judgements favourable to those who they wish to be favourable to.

Couldn’t complain to ARMA re: our MA at the time because one of their members was chairman of ARMA!! So complained to RICS. After much meaningless debate with them they suddenly decided they could take no action against MA’s only chartered surveyors. We found out later the same chairman of ARMA had once worked for RICS!!!

They are all in it together and look out for each other but definitely NOT us the leaseholders.

Grenfell Cladding

The FT today reports that government hopes that speculators in residential freeholds – especially anonymous ones hidden offshore – are unlikely to pay up to remove Grenfell cladding. The article coincided with reports of Places for People, freeholder of Leeds Saxton, issuing a non-repayable loan to leaseholders and pursuing a claim against warranty provider NHBC. […]

Slough Council – which made the unaccountable decision to buy the freehold of Grenfell cladding site Nova House for £1 – was in tribunal earlier last week against a formidable opponent, Benjamin Pell, better know to journalists as Benji the Binman. Mr Pell, who came to national attention after raiding the dustbins of London’s leading […]

The government is persisting with its argument that “building owners” must pay up to remove Grenfell cladding from their sites – even though the law has said that they don’t pay, leaseholders do. The statement today from Communities Secretary James Brokenshire says: “Local authorities will get the government’s full backing, including financial support if necessary, […]

Communities Secretary James Brokenshire told the Commons yesterday that freeholders had paid up to remove Grenfell cladding from private blocks. He was replying to a parliamentary question from Hilary Benn concerning astronomic Grenfell cladding costs at Saxton and Skyline Apartments in his Leeds constituency. Mr Brokenshire should understand that the developers who have paid up […]

Sorry, they are just speculators in it for the enforceable income By Martin Boyd Translating freeholder or landlord as “building owner” is a bad idea that has led government to make a mess of its efforts to resolve the issue of Grenfell cladding on private sites. LKP explained to both Dame Judith Hackitt and the […]

By Sebastian O’Kelly Government plans leaked in The Times to force residential freehold speculators to pay to remove Grenfell cladding from private blocks are doomed to fail. The proposals would almost certainly face legal challenges. They are the latest in a series of disastrous announcements, which followed Communities Secretary James Brokenshire reneging on his predecessor […]

Bellway “as a responsible developer” is meeting the bill … So what about the not-so-responsible Lendlease and Ballymore? In yet another triumph of leaseholder activism, Bellway and the Peabody Trust have caved in over the Grenfell cladding costs at New Festival Quarter. The east London site in the constituency of Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for […]

Dublin-based developer Ballymore has bluntly told an MP that leaseholders will have to pay to remove Grenfell ACM cladding panels at New Providence Wharf in Poplar, east London. It joins Aussie developer Lendlease, which is refusing to pay out – or explain why not – at Cypress Place and Vallea Court in Manchester. A figure […]

“Snakes and cladders” is Private Eye’s headline revealing Vuillard Holdings Limited as the latest landlord with Grenfell cladding on site. Owned by shy proprietors David and Patrick Kennedy, it owns the freehold of Victoria Wharf, two sites Limehouse in East London, where leaseholders have so far “been forced” to pay £165,000 for fire wardens. LKP […]

Labour frontbencher Kate Osamor asking a series of parliamentary questions on behalf of ground rent speculators lifts the lid on lobbying for the sector. Miss Osamor, the shadow international development secretary, submitted six questions drafted by lobbyists Pagefield acting for the £1.6 billion Long Harbour fund, the Daily Telegraph has claimed. LKP has contacted Labour’s […]

The Grenfell cladding disaster for private flat owners got another airing last Saturday, this time in the Daily Telegraph. It claims that 143 private blocks have failed the governments fire safety tests involving 20,000 leaseholders. “The Government has said that the building’s owners have a “moral responsibility” to ensure that the bill does not fall […]

We are only billing leaseholders for the fire marshals not Grenfell cladding removal, says Slough Council is understood to have bought the freehold to the stricken site for £1 – officially, a ‘nominal fee’ – off freehold investor Robert Steinhouse Liverpool debt collectors JB Leitch to take the tribunal action Leaseholders at Nova House which […]

… And £30 million to remove Grenfell cladding from the sites it built Taylor Wimpey has paid out only £11.2 million of the £130 million it set aside to address the doubling ground rent scam it inflicted on its customers between 2007 and 2011. During that period, the plc housebuilder dreamed up highly aggressive ground […]

In the absence of anyone else doing anything, LKP organised the first meeting of private leaseholders in blocks with Grenfell style cladding … but developers like Lendlease stayed away. The meeting was the first opportunity for leaseholders in 297 tower blocks to meet and exchange information and support. No developers, warranty providers or freeholders turned […]

UPDATE JULY 11: The Times reports that the NHBC caved in days after 220 leaseholders began legal proceedings to force the controversial warranty insurer to pay out. Leaseholder Nigel Pickford, 71, who spoke at our APPG in April and who lives in a £1 million apartment on the top floor of one of the blocks, […]

Another ground rent speculator, the Pemberstone Group, is seeking a tribunal ruling to dump Grenfell cladding costs on 300 leaseholders at two Manchester sites, reports The Independent today. The two sites are Cypress Place and Vallea Court in the so-called “Green Quarter” of the city. The sites were built by Australian builder Lendlease but the […]

LKP is organising the first forum for leaseholders in private blocks with ACM cladding. The event will take place in Parliament on the 18th July from 6pm to 8pm. As well as hearing from the speakers the meeting will allow leaseholders from different sites with cladding problems and share theier experiences. It will also provide […]

The prime minister addressed the Grenfell cladding issue in private blocks at parliamentary questions this afternoon, ‘ruling nothing out’ to get residential freeholders and developers to take responsibility rather than dump costs on leaseholders. She said that Barratt, Legal and General and Taylor Wimpey “are doing the right thing and taking responsibility”. The recognition of […]

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (145263): Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release, Government announces it will fully fund unsafe cladding removal in social housing, published on 16 May […]

The government said yesterday that it was going to haul in the agents for the Guernsey-based freeholders of Heysmoor Heights in Liverpool, which has Grenfell cladding, and demand to know who the freeholders are. LKP has highlighted the issue of Heysmoor Heights several times. Yesterday it was raised in the Commons by local Labour MP […]

High-rise Buildings: Cladding Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Daily Debates from Hansard are published on this website the next working day. A little insight to the new Communities Secretary James Brokenshire on Monday: His father provided cladding to […]

The misery of the leaseholders at New Capital Quay featured on the BBCR4 You and Yours programme after the APPG on April 6. It emerges that Galliard estimates the cost removing the cladding at the 1,00 flat site at £7-10 million (plus the fire marshals). The warranty provider the NHBC, which employed celebrity libel lawyers […]

APPG, April 26 The chief executive of FirstPort welcomed more professionalism in the residential property management sector, especially when dealing with vitally important issues such as tower blocks with defective cladding. Nigel Howell also told the APPG on April 26 how his company responded to the discovery of Grenfell cladding at Citiscape in Croydon, where […]

APPG, April 26 Two leaseholders at the Citiscape site in Croydon offered public praise to Barratt and thanked LKP for its efforts to get the issue raised in public and addressed. Anuj Vats and Srikant Alla are at the forefront of organising the leaseholders into a functioning residents’ association to address the crisis imposed on […]

APPG, April 26 A very different scene was outlined to the All Party Parliamentary Group on April 26 by Nigel Pickford (left), a leaseholder at New Capital Quay, another site with Grenfell cladding of more than 900 flats built by Galliard Homes only four years ago. The house builder also owns the freehold and the […]

Taxpayers face a loss of £85,000 on a Help To Buy loan at New Capital Quay after Homes England accepted that a flat blighted by Grenfell cladding was now worth only £50,000. Cecile Langevin, 32, a mother of two, bought her £475,000 flat with a £95,000 Help To Buy loan, savings and a mortgage in […]

The number of articles in the national press on leasehold issues continues to grow. Today sees two articles published, one in The Times where it reports on cladding and one in The Sun. The Sun gives its readers a very sensible cautionary guide to leasehold purchases including a mini guide to leasehold from LKP trustee […]

Labour MP for Battersea Marsha De Cordova is championing the cause of leaseholders facing bills of thousands of pounds at Sesame apartments. She told the Commons yesterday: “Leaseholders are still being left in limbo about whether they will be footing the bill. “But it is not leaseholders who have failed to upgrade buildings or cut […]

Other freeholders and housebuilders should do the same, says Sajid Javid Last night it was announced by Barratt that it would pick up the £2 million fire marshal and Grenfell fire cladding bill at Citiscape in Croydon. Barratt told LKP this morning: “Following the recent ruling that the costs for necessary recladding at Citiscape will […]

My £475,000 home with Grenfell cladding is worth £50,000. So I’ll now pay off my Help To Buy loan, please … But taxpayers would lose millions A young mother has made an intriguing intervention into the dilemma of those whose new flats are blighted with Grenfell cladding. And it may prove a tempting get-out […]